The City of Portland is working on a bike-sharing/rental system. The system will put card-activated rental bikes in kiosks downtown.
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A Freewheelin’ station in Denver.(Photo: Freewheelin/Flickr) A bike-sharing program that started as an employee perk for Lousville, Kentucky-based Humana Corporation has taken the national stage this week. Humana — a $30 billion a year, 9,000 employee health insurance company — has partnered up with Bikes Belong and a host of bike manufacturers to set up … Read more
The crew from NYC-based Streetfilms has published a good overview of the recently launced SmartBike DC bike-sharing system. With bike-sharing still in the plans for Portland, it’s worth keeping tabs on how things go in D.C. As for Portland’s plans, here’s a little update on where things stand.
Bikes await customers at Penn Quarter station in Washington D.C.(Photo: afagen/Flickr) After several months of delay following the initial “launch”, Washington D.C. is basking in the glow of becoming the first large U.S. city to offer a bike-sharing system. Will their approach work? Should Portland be jealous? Why weren’t we first?
“There are a lot of [bike-sharing] systems out there and we really want to pick the best model.”–Shoshanah Oppenheim, transportation policy aide for Commissioner Adams With the announcement last week that the City of Portland has canceled their search for a bike-sharing vendor, some are wondering what’s next in Portland’s public-bike future. Far from giving … Read more
Portland will have to wait for a bike-sharing program like this one in Vienna.Photo: Ethan Jewett The process to select a vendor that would implement a public bike-sharing system in Portland has been canceled. In a letter just released by the City of Portland’s Office of Management and Finance, Purchasing Agent Jeffrey Baer writes:
Washington DC has beat Portland in becoming the first U.S. city with a bike-sharing system. This photo shows a construction site where one of the new SmartBikeDC racks will be located.(Photo: afagen on Flickr) Now that Washington D.C. is getting national media attention for their “first of its kind in the U.S.” bike-sharing system, I … Read more
House CAO Dan Beard(Photo House CAO Office) Dan Beard, the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives will be in Portland later this week. Beard is slated to speak about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Green the Capitol” initiative at the Better Living Show coming to the Portland Expo Center on Sunday (3/29). Pelosi’s … Read more
[Update: 12/6, 9:47pm (see below)] Photo: Ethan Jewett Commissioner Sam Adams’ office has put together a panel to review the proposals of the three companies who responded to their request to implement a bike-sharing system in Portland. The request called for a company that could manage the “delivery and operation of a bicycle fleet [numbering … Read more
A Velib station on rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.(Photo: luc legay/Flickr) After nearly a month since the launch of their ambitious “Velib” bike-sharing program, the city of Paris has been transformed by two-wheeled transit. An article published today in the Times of London states that in the first three weeks, the bikes were borrowed a whopping … Read more
[Updated: 7/24, 7:34am] A bike-sharing system in Vienna.Photo: Ethan Jewett By now, everyone’s heard of the “Velib” bike-sharing program launched by Paris earlier this month. That program — whose name so poetically is formed from the French words for “bike” and “liberty” — placed 10,600 bikes at 750 stations for use by Parisians and tourists … Read more
As I reported last month, Commissioner Adams is serious about bringing a bike rental program to Portland. I just got an email from Max Coffman from Adams’ office. He has just published the Request for Proposals (RFP) for a potential bike rental system in Portland.
[A bike-sharing system, like this one in Vienna, could be on its way to Portland.] Photo: Ethan Jewett City Commissioner Sam Adams has stepped up his effort to bring a bicycle-sharing system to Portland. Although still in “preliminary stages,” Adams’ staffer Max Coffman — who works with Adams and Senior Policy Director Roland Chlapowski on … Read more